The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1887-01-27
PROSPECTS BRIGHTENISG.
Ono Writer Who Thinks that There's II
Good Time Coming for tho South.
(From tho Southern Cu1,ivo+Cr

(From the Southern Cultivator)
1t is' well known to tho CuitiyatoI
readers that the farmers howl and com.
plain OF cotton being only worth from
seven and half to eight and seven
eighth cents; they consider themselves
broke and ruined at those prices, when
1t Is a blessing to them and to the coun-
try, that it is no higher priced. Fifty
odd years gives one some experience
abodt farming and tho vicissitudcs that
attond 1t. In my long experience I
never saw the time when cotton sold
hlgher Tor a series OF years, but it ended
Dndly Tor tho farmers, as it encouraged
them to increase the area of cotton
planting and curtail the area of their
provision crops and lead them into
spcculatlonS and all manner Of cxtrava-
ganceS and waste, and whom Oycr-pro-
auction glutted tho market and cotton
1ell III price, 1T found the farmers in
debt, which had to be paid bv low-pricod
cotton. On the contrary, when cotton
sold low for series of years, the farm
crs regulated their affairs to suit circum
stances; it forged them to become moro
selt.sustalnlng, henco they increased
their provision crops, lived moro Mt
home, raised their own meut and bread,
kept out OF speculations, economical in
every department, hence they saved
more money at lOw-priccd cotton than
they did with high-priced cotton. / have
always noticed that debts and accounts
were moro promptly paid with low
priced cotton-why? because when cot
ton was high, speculation and cXtraya-
gance increased their indebtedness, and
when low-priced were economical and
saving, and every dollar they got thev
applied to their debts. This may seem
strange theory, that low-priccd cotton
benefits the farmers moro than high
priced cotton, but experience has shown
1t to be the case, and the reasons are aD-
parent; when speculation sets in value
becomes fictitious, and imitation goes on
until the bubble cXplodcs and reaction
throws all III chaos and dismay and O
panic IS the result, which brings about
general loss and ruin, and riches based
on such fictitious and fraudulent values
melt into poverty. Let us go back fifty
years, when everything was much dearcr
than 1t is now-'coflco 2! pounds to the
dollar, sugar five and six pounds to the
dollar, iron ten cents pound, axes two
dollars and half each, four-quarter
sheetlng thirty-seven and half cents,
and callcoes, American, thirty seven and
half cents, English fifty cents per yard
and cotton selling ut eight and ten cents
Gong back only to 1870 our factories
sold plalds at nineteen cents per yard.
Last year, 1856, they sold the same plaid
for sN and onc-fourth cents, and the
present boom, Sin and threc-folrth
cents, and with cotton at present prices
the advantages are all i'll favor of the
consumers. But let the price Of cotton
advance to twelve and fifteen cents.
everything else would run up higher in
price to the proportion to the price of
cotton, and provision crops curtailcd in
planting and cotton planting increased
at tho expectation of fifteen cents a
pound, would place the farmers in q
worse condition than they arc to-day.
Low values arc in favor of the farmers.
provided they farmcd as they should, by
raising their own fool supplies in
abundance for man and beast, and cot
ton at SIX cents would pay them we'll.
Our whole system Of farming is wrong,
hence there is such depression and hard
tunes with the farmers, and the error is
IN planting two much cotton and two
little provisions with most of the farmers
to-day; their cotton crops are merely cx-
changed for their food supplies, and un-
der such system where can any profit
como i'll for the farmer? Why none, for
all he makes is consumed in provisions
to support life; all made above farm
consumption should be clear profit,
and If we farmed in that way, the low
price Of cotton would not affect us, and
II hiGh-priccd, the greater the profits.
Keep an eye to your cribs and barns and
smokc-houscs, that they are filled from
your own fields; also keep an eye to
your little truck patches, and to your
garden and poultry house, and also to
your dairy, and when that is done, you
Will never hear of hard times on 1, farm
thus managed the hard times and gin
houses go together; all cotton and no
bread and meat is the trouble; clothing
OF all kinds is cheap, but when you
strike the grocers and provision dealers,
there the ruinous expenses como in
which make farming unprofitablc.
JNO. II, DENT.
Cave Spring, GG.